A loss for us all

John was a wonderful leader and someone who cared about Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals with his whole heart. I’m heartbroken, and send so much love to all of my CMNH colleagues, John’s family, and to all of the kids whose lives he impacted. He is simply irreplaceable, and will be missed by so many. From challenging us to reach for the billion dollar mark, to inspiring us all to go after our own “big buckle” goals, his leadership left a mark on us all.

While I have many fond memories of John, one of my favorites was welcoming him to our Dance Dash event in 2015. I was the local Program Director at the time, and challenged John to attend if we were able to register the largest number of participants that year. We hit the mark, and true to his word, John flew out to thank our participants personally and danced his way around the course. His pride for his work beamed from his smile, and we were so grateful to have him there with us.

The leadership lessons that I learned from John will always be a part of me, and I’ll look back fondly at the 9 years that I was able to work with him. He always had time to take a call or answer an email, even from a PD from a small market in California who sometimes just needed to brainstorm. He didn’t lead from above, he put his feet on the ground and hustled with the rest of us, and his care for the network was as genuine as it gets.

Thank you for those 9 years, John. The world is a better place because you were in it.